Tuesday, September 26, 2006

REPUBLICAN PARTY SUICIDE - THE NEW REALITY SHOW

By now most of us interested in politics has had a chance to view – or review – the “debate” between Bill Clinton and Chris Wallace aired by FoxNews over the weekend, and bootlegged by the Beavis channel over at YouTube…

I didn’t watch it – I don’t watch TV – and I won’t stoop to the level of the Drudge class hatemongers and patronize the Youtube crap, which, according to Crooks and Liars, has been deliberately altered to WJC’s detriment…

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/22/president-clinton-blasts-chris-wallace/#more-10457

I guess those who watch it will have to judge Crooks and Liars claim for themselves. For myself, I’d settle for a full transcript, which I haven’t been able to find at Fox – I suppose this means so few Fox viewers read that there’s no demand…

So I was forced to rely on what Crooks and Liars provide at the aforementioned link, claiming it to be “a rough transcript”…

Reading, not watching… Bill Clinton wiped the floor with that little smartass… I’m surprised he didn’t end the interview by giving Chrissy a noogie…

My conclusion seems to be reinforced by one of the few objective accounts I can find on the interview, that of Slate’s John Dickerson:

“Fox in the Henhouse
Clinton's strategic TV blowup.”

http://www.slate.com/id/2150335/?nav=tap3

Read it yourself. Good analysis.

I want the Republicans to get the biggest shellacking they have suffered since 1856 in this next election – so I shouldn’t be giving them what I believe to be good advice… But here it is…

Leave Bill Clinton alone. Muzzle and chain your rabid attack monkeys, if you have to, but leave him alone. He is hands down the most popular and charismatic politician alive today – there is more charisma in Slick’s “willie” than GWB’s administration. If you take him on, you will lose.

And that’s from someone who utterly detested Clinton when he was President.

I must admit, my opinion of WJC has improved since January 2001. He’s made a far better ex-President than he made President – his style better suites the elder statesman / I told you so niche. And things have gone so badly the last 6 years that his administration can’t help but look better than it actually was…

Don’t take him on…Especially on a subject where he is undeniably right. Any review of the facts will show Clinton did far more than Bush to find Bin Laden, and for less provocation. From the interview:

“after the Cole I had battle plans drawn to go into Afhanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and launch a full scale attack search for Bin Laden. But we needed baseing rights in Uzbekistan which we got after 9/11. The CIA and the FBI refused to certify that bin laden was responsible while I was there. They refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred special forces in helicopters and refuel at night.”

“special forces in helicopters and refuel at night.”… Shades of a debacle suffered by another Democratic President in that part of the world back in ’79…

That IS a rough transcript… Well at least you know it isn’t mine… I wouldn’t allow that many spelling errors… But I digress.

The GWB administration then sat on it’s hands for 8 months - even after the President was told, on in a private meeting August 6, 2001, that Al-Qaeda was planning on doing just exactly what they did five weeks later…

BRAVO to the patriotic leakers who bring us word of meetings like this…

And ultimately, Bush did follow Clinton’s plan, but with a lot more force at his disposal, more bases, and more allies… And he still didn’t get Bin Laden.

History vindicates Clinton… So predictably this morning the administration, in the person of Condi Rice, is shooting back. One of many accounts…

“Rice Challenges Clinton's Statements on Anti-Terror Record”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,215779,00.html

“"The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there and didn't do that is just flatly false… We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight Al Qaeda…"”

It’s an understandable reaction, considering the source. I’ll offer an opinion you won’t find expressed anywhere else – not because it’s wrong, but because it’s taboo:

I think Rice is utterly incompetent.

The left – Ted Rall’s demented humor aside - won’t say it, because…

She’s black.

She’s a she…

The left just doesn’t criticize black women. The neocons won’t criticize their black women; they need every one they have…

But I will. Everything she has done since becoming Secretary of State – really, everything she has done since joining the administration – has been an utter failure. The Mideast peace process is ruined; Iraq is a disaster… Half the world, including Iran, Syria, and North Korea has told us to piss off… Even our allies treat us like a … I could say black sheep… but that’s too loaded… Whatever metaphor you pick, this much is certain: Since she’s been at State, our foreign policy has been a disaster.

So I’ll discount her butt-covering… She has plenty to cover… Policy failures, I mean.

And I’ll look forward to the next installment of this new reality show – a show I don’t need a TV to watch is right up my alley. Scurrilous leaks suggest it will be entitled:

“Bush orders Iraq/terrorism report revealed.”

The plot will involve trying to explain away all the new terrorists created since we went on the warpath to eradicate terrorism…

Somehow, I doubt the Republican mobsters will try to “hit” Slick Willie for an opinion on this one… But he may offer one anyway.

Comments:
Yes, Mr. Clinton taught Chris Matthews a lesson, but only if you read the transcript and stopped there.

All the "facts" Clinton cited and all the accusations he made were made up on the spot. The truth was absent. Clintons body language was outrageous. He lost his cool and showed himself for what he is.

To a conservative (those who already detest him) the best policy was to just let him go. the first rule of politics is, after all, when your oponent is self destructing, don't interupt.

To a Democrat (those who already like Bill) he was a great attack dog. He taught the R's a lesson. They assumed that all his "facts" were in order when, in fact, his facts were pure myth.

The hardcore on either side will not be swayed by this.
 
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